London, 25 Sep - On 22nd September there was a deadly attack at a military parade in the south-western part of Iran. Dozens of people were killed and Iran has accused the United States, Saudi Arabia and Israel of being behind the attack. Tensions are rising between the countries and Iranian officials are making the matter worse by threatening revenge.

This tension will no doubt affect Iranian President Hassan Rouhani when he attends the United Nations General Assembly in New York. He has already said that he intends to “expose U.S. breaches of international regulations” and there is no doubt that he will have a lot to say about the U.S. exit from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

London, 24 Sep - As the UN General Assembly begins, during a press briefing on Thursday September 20th, US Department of State's spokesperson Heather Nauert said that the United States holds Iran responsible for last week's attacks on American establishments in Iraq. She said, "We recognize that Iran continues to be a destabilizing element in the region. They continue to try to attack other governments and individuals through their proxy militias. We will hold them responsible for any loss of American life. I just want to be clear about that.” Previously, the U.S. had warned against any attack by Iran-backed Iraqi militia against US forces in Iraq.

London, 12 Sep - The United States has issued a new safety warning to airlines about operating in Iranian airspace, citing concerns over military activity following the interception of an unnamed US passenger aircraft by Iranian fighter jets in December 2017.

The Federal Aviation Administration issued its updated guidance to US airlines on Sunday, as the previous year’s advisory expired, and warned about the need for airlines to use caution when travelling in Iranian airspace. They also said that the conflict in Syria could put commercial flights to, from, and through Iran's airspace in danger of military action.

London, 22 Sep - In May, Donald Trump pulled the US out of the 2015 nuclear between Iran and six world powers and sent the foreign-policy establishment into overdrive with opposition.

They warned that Trump’s promise to bring back sanctions – specifically on Iran’s oil exports - would fail because America’s allies and the other signatories to the nuclear deal would continue to do business with Iran. Then, as if they were dealing with Schrödinger’s sanctions, they said that if the sanctions worked, then the US would be dealing with increased oil prices that would bite the American people and possibly even cause a recession.

London, 11 Sep - Late last week, market participants said that with US sanctions on Iranian crude going into effect shortly, loadings from Iran are still ongoing, and some shipping companies view it as an opportunity to get hefty premiums.

A chartering executive in Houston said, "Iranian crude loadings for export will continue even after the US sanctions are fully implemented. It will not stop completely. Somehow companies will manage to [ship out].” He added that new companies with no connection to the US banking, insurance, or currency systems might be created to continue Iran-related businesses without contravening US laws.

London, 21 Sep - Oil refiners in Japan have temporarily suspended all loading from Iran ahead of incoming US sanctions, even though they are still trying to obtain a sanctions waiver from Washington, according to Takashi Tsukioka, the President of the Petroleum Association of Japan.

When asked whether refiners had suspended their Iranian oil loadings beyond October, Tsukioka told a press conference on Thursday: "I understand that each company's position [over Iranian oil loadings] is the same, to have suspended them while monitoring the situation. The companies are also taking a flexible approach to be prepared to respond, depending on how the situation develops."

London, 10 Sep - The Iran nuclear deal’s implementation in 2015 lifted many international sanctions on the country. Iranian airlines were happy for the opportunity to renew their fleets. Orders were placed for tens of billions of dollars’ worth of new aircraft.

Contracts were signed with Boeing, Airbus, and ATR. Only a few of the 300 planes that were ordered were delivered, however, when US President Trump pulled out of the nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions. New deliveries dwindled, as did the ability to buy spare parts. As new U.S. sanctions go into effect, Iran’s airlines are forced to patch up their aging planes instead of using newer models.

London, 21 Sep - On September 19th, British-Iranian dual nationals were advised against all but essential travel to Iran. Britain has warned them that it has only limited powers to support them if they are detained in the country.

A foreign office spokeswoman said, “The Foreign Secretary (Jeremy Hunt) has taken the decision to advise against all but essential travel by UK-Iranian dual nationals to Iran.” Her email statement continued, “British citizens who also hold Iranian nationality face risks if they travel to Iran, as we have seen all too sadly in a number of cases. The Iranian government does not recognize dual nationality, so if a dual national is detained our ability to provide support is extremely limited.”

London, 4 Sep - America's allies in Europe are plotting ways to bypass U.S. sanctions on Iran as they work to keep the nuclear deal alive without the United States.

With a second round of U.S. sanctions set to take effect in November, European officials are working at cross-purposes with Trump's "maximum pressure" campaign as they try to preserve as much business as possible with Iran. The goal is to persuade Iran's leaders to stay in the deal for a few more years — perhaps long enough for Trump to be replaced and for a new U.S. president to rejoin the deal.

London, 20 Sep - The people of Golpayegan in the Isfahan Province of Iran have been dealing with major problems in terms of agriculture. Their land that used to have wonderful natural springs is now useless. Agricultural activity has all but stopped because the land is barren and is incapable of producing what it once used to.

This is all because of the Ghaed Bassir Petrochemical Plant. The plant produces Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) and Styrene Acrylonitrile Copolymer (SAN) resins according to the petrochemical owning company.

London, 4 Sep - Because it fears an attack by the United States, Iran has reasons to want a stealth fighter, but its dream is nowhere near to becoming a reality.

Israel and the United States have some of the most capable air arms on the planet. Iran is also competing for regional dominance with multiple Arab states who are equipped with fourth and 4.5-generation F-15, F-16, Typhoon and Rafale jet fighters. But, although Iran’s once state-of-the-art U.S.-built F-4 Phantom and F-14 Tomcat fighters have been kept in operational condition for decades, this falls far short of developing a working stealth fighter.

London, 19 Sep - Back in May, when Donald Trump formally announced that he would be pulling out of the 2015 nuclear deal, there was a great deal of concern that this would either dramatically increase oil prices and damage the American economy or fail to stop international companies from trading with Iran and allow Iran to restart its nuclear weapons programme without oversight. As of yet, neither has happened.

Instead, Iran’s crude exports are plummeting nearly two months before the sanctions go into effect, as global oil companies – even those based in countries still committed to the deal – are cutting their ties to the country. Despite this, oil prices in the US have not risen as dramatically as was feared, essentially remaining stagnant, largely thanks to the increase in oil production by the US and other oil-producing countries.

London, 30 August - The Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister criticised Iran and insisted that the rogue state deserves more economic sanctions on Wednesday, following the mullah’s announcement of plans to close a key shipping channel in the Persian Gulf.

After a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, Adel al-Jubeir lashed out against Iran, called the country’s nuclear programme "weak", and advocated for more US sanctions targeting Iran.

Jubeir said: "Regarding the Iranian nuclear programme and the historic deal around the programme, we have said from the very beginning that the programme is weak and does not envision active measures that would prevent Iran from continuing its nuclear programme as soon as possible."

London, 18 Sep - When U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the United States would be exiting the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran and other world powers, he also declared that sanctions would be re-imposed.

The announcement created shockwaves and there were immediate ramifications on the Iranian economy. Since the announcement was made, Iran’s oil exports have dropped by nearly a third.

London, 29 August - Iran has filed a suit against the US before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the Hague to stop US sanctions from coming into place, but the US views the suit as “meritless” and will fight against it.

Iran’s claim is based on the 1955 “Treaty of Amity” between the US and Iran, which is a strange treaty to bring up as it has already been before the ICJ several times.

In 2003, when the US and Iran were attacking each other’s oil platforms and shipping industry, the ICJ ruled that the treaty was in force, despite being signed by previous governments, but that the US and Iranian claims based on that treaty were not valid. While during the 1979-80 hostage crisis, the ICJ found in the US’s favour and ordered the return of the American hostages, but ignored the ruling.

London, 12 Sep - Iran may be turning towards China for support as US sanctions put pressure on the Gulf nation, because Chinese businesses are eager to build relationships with Iran, as Western businesses leave, and China is one of the biggest importers of Iranian oil, something that will come under U.S. sanctions in November.

A. Tabatabai, an associate political scientist. who recently co-authored a book exploring Iran's ties with China and Russia, said: “[Iran] has had to rely on China to offset the Western-induced isolation, predominantly championed by the United States. I think that what we're going to see is the return of a quasi-monopoly of key sectors of the Iranian economy by the Chinese."

London, 28 August - After being alerted by the vigilant researchers at the cybersecurity firm FireEye, Facebook, Google, and Twitter have deleted hundreds of accounts.

The FireEye team followed what looked to the untrained eye like unrelated threads for the last few month. They examined the phone numbers used by these accounts to sign up for Twitter, the emails they used to register domains, and the changes to their account names over time. The Iranian operation began to unravel.

London, 12 Sep - Earlier this year, the head of Iran’s Petroleum Engineering and Development Company spoke about the country’s plans to relocate the nation’s main oil export tunnel from Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf to Bandar-e-Jask in the Oman Sea. He said that the Bandar-e-Jask port will be ready during the course of 2021 and that it would have the capacity to hold around 30 million barrels of crude oil. The CEO of the company also said that it would be able to export one million barrels per day (bpd) from there.

London, 28 August - Pro-Iranian governments and Hezbollah media outlets are gloating over the news that Donald Trump’s days in office may soon be ending, which reflects entirely how much of a threat he posed to their continued existence and how his policy on Iran constantly thwarted the mullahs.

Trump is going through a significant political crisis, but he has not yet been impeached or otherwise forced out of office. Therefore, any errant speculation by the media of a country or by officials themselves will not help these countries if Trump remains in power until the end of his first term.